So your business finally has everything it needs to start: a fully furnished office decked out with top-of-the-line equipment. Good start, but I bet you haven’t thought about how to protect your business from Mother Nature’s wrath.
It probably didn’t cross your mind, but it’s something to think about, especially when natural disasters can bring chaos to any business in a flash.
In early July 2013, Toronto went through watery havoc when a surge of rainwater flooded the metropolis with record highs. Calgary experienced a similar event just weeks before. Hurricane Katrina, Sandy, tsunamis and the list can go on.
Digital disasters like being a target of a phishing attack are a real and present disaster as well. It is known that an average phishing attack can cost an average of $1.6M for a mid-sized company.
And lastly, we are currently experiencing a global pandemic, a disaster that affects the entire world. COVID-19 is teaching business owners to think about the health and wellness of their people as well.
Now, the question for every business owner: are you ready?
Cloud-based services could save your business from hitting rock bottom. It allows your business to bypass a cul-du-sac and continue to run smoothly, albeit, say, a flood that’s affected the office space.
Saving your data on a local hard drive versus moving to the cloud could lead to losing every vital piece of information.
Data stored in the cloud will always be accessible – anywhere and anytime – whereas saving it to a hard drive leaves it vulnerable to damage.
Think about how your business can continue to operate when faced with worst-case scenarios.
- Will your business be at stake if a disaster hits the office?
- Where is data being stored?
- How will workers and customers communicate without functioning phone lines?
These are just some questions to ask when running small to medium-sized businesses.
Some of the advantages of using cloud-based services include its low initial investment, ample storage capacity and the accessibility.